Farmers will now be able to access high quality and site specific weather forecasts and data from their smartphones in a new partnership between global farm-management company CropX, and MetService, New Zealand’s national weather authority.
MetService will provide weather data for CropX to share via its cloud based platform direct to an app on the farmer’s phone. The data will be backed by science, based on modelling as well as from local observations from specific weather stations in farming hubs.
“This partnership means that as well as farmers having access to the data our soil monitors provide, they will have further and fuller information on the weather in order to make good water and nutrient management decisions to ensure the best outcomes for the pasture in the growing cycle, with minimal water and fertilizer inputs,” CropX New Zealand managing director Eitan Dan says.
The agreement will see CropX using MetService weather data on their farm-management platform, with MetService now a licensed reseller of CropX’s technology.
“No business could be more at the mercy of weather than farming,” Dan says. “New Zealand farmers make important and costly decisions based on the weather multiple times a day – so accuracy and ease of accessing weather information is essential. We want to provide this to our CropX customers to supplement the data they receive from our soil sensors.”
MetService rigorously evaluated CropX technology, and were impressed by the consistency and accuracy of the data and the seamless setup and operation.
“MetService is thrilled to partner with CropX, who provide a great service to New Zealand farmers and growers,” MetService business development manager Peter Fisher says.
“We employ over 100 meteorologists in New Zealand, and operate the most in-depth weather observation network in the country, including New Zealand’s weather radar,” Peter says.
“We are very impressed with both the hardware and software CropX has developed to monitor various aspects of soil, including moisture levels, and we see multiple exciting synergies with CropX.
“We are excited to leverage off each other’s expertise to provide very specific data to sectors outside of agriculture. In partnership with CropX, we are exploring opportunities in the electricity sector to monitor the soil environment where assets are underground,”Peter says.
“It’s really important for us that we engage with local business partners wherever possible,” says Eitan. “We use an international weather company in other countries we operate in, but this partnership recognises the credibility and track record MetService has in the provision of very accurate weather information which successfully guides businesses in New Zealand every day.”
CropX was founded in New Zealand six years ago after angel investors provided capital for initial work carried out by Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research, a New Zealand Crown Research Institute. The company then moved to Israel. It has recently returned to New Zealand after acquiring Regen, an effluent and irrigation decision support company.
Dan is excited for CropX New Zealand to continue growing its national presence and to work with more New Zealand businesses to help Kiwi farmers and growers.
“We’re very much a New Zealand business and we want to provide products and services which respond specifically to the needs of growers and farmers here in New Zealand who take land and water management – in the best interests of the environment – very seriously. We are supporting them with this,” Eitan says.
“New Zealand is an agricultural powerhouse and is already so advanced and efficient with its food production, we want to help further improve those efficiencies and continue to help reduce the sector’s environmental footprint and see a long future in the sector for CropX here.”
